Book Gifts for 11 to 13 Year Olds
Ages 11–13 · 6th to 8th grade
For an 11 to 13 year old, give a Newbery or National Book Award winner they would not pick up for school: a mystery, a verse novel, or a story about a kid their own age. Six of the eight below are on school lists in four states or fewer in our data.
Not for a teen ready for adult themes: the 14 to 17 page has those. Refugee and The Crossover are common 6th grade class reads, so ask first.
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The Girl Who Drank the Moonby Kelly Barnhill · Grades 4th–7th · 386 pages · 2016
A witch, a moon-fed baby, and real magic. The Newbery pick for big imaginations.
On national book lists, but no state school list in our data
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Merci Suárez Changes Gearsby Meg Medina · Grades 4th–7th · 368 pages · 2018
Winner of the Newbery Medal — Meg Medina's novel about a scholarship student juggling family, class, and a beloved grandfather's decline.
On national book lists, but no state school list in our data
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Hello, Universeby Erin Entrada Kelly · Grades 3rd–7th · 320 pages · 2017
Winner of the 2018 Newbery Medal — Erin Entrada Kelly's four-narrator novel about a shy Filipino-American boy and the friends who search for him.
On national book lists, but no state school list in our data
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The Westing Gameby Ellen Raskin · Grades 5th–7th · 224 pages · 1978
Winner of the 1979 Newbery Medal — sixteen heirs, one mystery, one inheritance. The mystery novel that taught a generation to read for clues.
On school lists in 2 states (most often 5th grade)
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Walk Two Moonsby Sharon Creech · Grades 5th–7th · 280 pages · 1994
Winner of the 1995 Newbery Medal — Sharon Creech's road-trip novel about a girl retracing her mother's journey while telling a friend's story.
On school lists in 4 states (most often 5th grade)
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Brown Girl Dreamingby Jacqueline Woodson · Grades 5th–8th · 352 pages · 2014
A National Book Award winner and Newbery Honor — Jacqueline Woodson's memoir in verse about growing up Black in the 1960s and 70s South and North.
On school lists in 4 states (most often 6th grade)
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The Crossoverby Kwame Alexander · Grades 5th–8th · 240 pages · 2014
A basketball story told in poetry. Even kids who 'hate reading' finish it in one night.
On school lists in 12 states (most often 6th grade)
The Crossover 3-book box set: The Crossover, Booked, Rebound
Get the box set on AmazonOnly this book: editions and formats →
Refugeeby Alan Gratz · Grades 5th–9th · 352 pages · 2017
Three kids, three eras, one heart-stopping run for safety. They'll race to the end.
On school lists in 18 states (most often 6th grade)
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What reads well at ages 11–13?
Middle schoolers read 220 to 390 page novels, and verse novels (The Crossover, Brown Girl Dreaming) are a good gift for a child who says they do not like reading: lots of white space, fast pages.
How were these picked?
Each book comes from one of ReadingList's hand-checked lists, and the awards named are the award bodies' own. The school-list line counts the states whose reading lists include the book in our data (see how we source lists). Books set in fewer states come first, because a gift they already read in class is a wasted gift.
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